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8/5/16

CGJ Intern Update from Debbie Stieglitz

In our April newsletter, we told you about Hope, a young girl who was kidnapped, kept on a shrine, had her blood drained, her tongue cut, and her teeth removed. Thanks to a legal letter we drafted, the prosecutor increased the charges in that case. While we were thankful, we were not sure how the case would turn out and whether we would be able to provide additional assistance to see the prosecution to the end. But God knew. This summer, we sent three to interns to work with the Uganda Department of Public Prosecutions (our equivalent of the Attorney General). The following blog post is by one of those interns, Debbie Stieglitz.

Hope and Debbie

Last fall, Peter Sewakiryanga from Kyampisi Childcare Ministries
came and spoke at a Regent Law Chapel about his work in combating and seeking
justice for the children and families that fall victim to child sacrifice in
Uganda. Child sacrifice has increased in Uganda over the past several
years as the economy of the country has boomed and some of the people in power
believe that child sacrifice brings them their fortune. After hearing
testimonies from mothers and fathers who had lost their children and from some
of the surviving children that were able to escape, I knew I would be spending
my summer in Uganda. From the moment my eyes were opened to this
atrocious evil that is committed against hundreds of children in Uganda every
year, I knew there was absolutely nothing else I wanted to do this summer then
to come to Uganda and help in any way I could to fight these witch doctors.

Before arriving in Uganda to intern for the
Director of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, I was thrilled to be placed
on the team of students from the Center for Global Justice to work with Peter
Sewakiryanga from Kyampisi Childcare Ministries. This past spring, Peter
sent the Center two cases seeking legal assistance. Hope’s case came to
us in late January and required urgent attention. Hope was kidnapped when
she was one and a half years old. The witch doctor kept her on his shrine
for almost two years, constantly draining her blood and harvesting different
parts of her body. As a result of this constant torture and poor living
conditions, Hope now has severe cerebral palsy. She requires 24/7 care
just to survive. And from my personal experience, as my own sister has
severe cerebral palsy, I know that Hope’s condition will continue to bring new
struggles as she continues to grow and age.

When I arrived in Uganda I was surprised to hear that Hope’s case was still
being heard in Court. It was a surreal moment realizing that work that
was being done in faraway Virginia was about to catch up to my life now in
Uganda. I consider myself blessed that I am actually able to be here and
see the fruits of the labor that had begun for Hope’s case so far away.

When I began my internship, I informed the assistant to the DPP about Hope’s
case. He was immediately interested in making sure this was handled
properly so that Hope would get justice. However, he questioned why the
charge against the witch doctor was kidnapping with intent to cause grievous
harm instead of kidnapping with intent to murder. He asked me to research
the Penal Code section on kidnapping with intent to murder and previous cases
and determine if we could amend the charges. After the research and
knowing the facts in Hope’s case, we agreed that the charge should have been
kidnapping with intent to murder that carries a maximum sentence of death as
opposed to 15 years for kidnapping with intent to cause grievous harm.

I wrote a legal opinion and submitted it to Mike Chibitia, the head of the
DPP. After looking over the memo he called Joseph and me into his office
to discuss the case. Concluding our brief meeting, he agreed with us that
the charges should be amended and gave us the task of writing a withdrawal and
substitution form to be submitted to the court that he would sign for approval.

In order to amend the charges Joseph and I had to work fast. Hope’s case
was coming up for ruling in four days, and if the judge made his ruling we
could not later amend the charges. We sent a carrier to go and retrieve
the handwritten case file from the town of Rakai and bring it to the
headquarters in Kampala. We only had one day to get our withdrawal forms
put into Hope’s file because of how far the travel time is between Rakai and
Kampala. By the end of the day on the Tuesday before the court ruling on
Thursday, we finished our work, received approval from the DPP, and the file
with the new withdrawal and substitution charge was on the way back to Rakai.

The day of the court ruling I traveled early to get to Rakai by
9:30am. It was immensely important that the Resident State Attorney spoke
to the magistrate before he made his way into court and began making his
rulings. The DPP asked me to go to court to ensure the RSA got to the
magistrate before the ruling. If we missed this one chance, the
opportunity would forever be lost. We had one shot and we were going to
make sure we did everything we could to get Hope’s new amended charges to the
magistrate before he made his ruling (even if that meant waking up at 4:30am).

I am pleased to report that the RSA and I went before the magistrate prior to
his ruling and he accepted the withdrawal and substitute charge.

Hope’s case is not over yet, but the potential outcome is now greater than what
it would have been. The current standing of Hope’s case is that the new
charge of kidnapping with intent to murder has been accepted. The case is
now being moved to the High Court in Masaka as the charge is now a capital
offense. On July 28, the witch doctor will appear in court and the DPP
will have the committal papers ready to commit him to that court. Upon
committal, the judge will add Hope’s case to his or her docket and a new court
trial date will be set. In addition to the committal papers, the Director
of the DPP, Mike Chibitia, is sending along a personal letter requesting the
judge in Masaka to make this case a top priority so that justice can hopefully
be served quickly.

Justice for Hope will take a little longer now because the case must be
completely reheard in the High Court. However, the charge of kidnapping
with intent to murder carries with it a sentence that is fitting the crime
committed. Having the opportunity to work on Hope’s case from the United
States and then show up in Uganda and be able to go to court and fight for
justice for her is an experience I will never forget. I am honored that
God allowed me the opportunity to be a very small part Hope’s life at this
critical time.

This post was written by a Center for Global Justice student intern. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.

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